Interview with Russian Minister of Energy, Alexander Novak

The fall in oil prices has been caused not by a conspiracy on the market, but its sharp overproduction. The production growth - up to 1.1 million barrels per day – exceeds the pace of demand two times. Nevertheless, the dependence of the budget on oil and gas industry is planned to be reduced - to 43 – 45%. This was said by the Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak in an interview specially for the Russkaya gazeta.

- Alexander Valentinovich, how much is the Russia's budget dependent on energy exports? In comparison, for example, with the 1980s or the 2000s, are we more or less "dependent"?

Alexander Novak: Energy resources are our competitive advantage. The discovery of large oil and gas fields in 1950-1960 changed the structure of our budget revenues due to energy sources exports. From 2000, the oil production increased by 200 million tons per year and the export of oil and oil products – almost two times. Due to this, the share of oil and gas revenues in the budget increased by about 50 – 52%. Of course, we understand that oil and gas are non-renewable natural resources that might be over someday. In addition, the revenues of the country are more stable in case of diversification of sources. Therefore, in accordance with our strategy of energy development for the period of till 2035, we expect to reduce the budget's dependence on the oil and gas industry to 43 – 45%. We understand that it is still too much. Nevertheless, it is a moving in the right direction.

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